Good bring back the GX! It fills in nicely between the RX and LX and has been selling better lately. Make it faster sexier and more fuel efficient!
With emphasis on lately, the GX is already trending downwards once again. They should've had a redesign ready by this fourth quarter or no later than summer 2017. Clearly they are behind once again.
i think this meant for the next GA-L based GX
and i think this is the 4.0t been tested on the LS that seen before with the A8 & 7-Series
While I agree this regards a redesign, I wouldn't guarantee it's a GA-L based product nor that the GX400 refers to any 4.0t. In fact, I strongly disagree with that assertion, as that LS mule may not have been equipped with a 4.0 litre engine or even V8.
There's nothing wrong with speculating that on a GA-L based replacement, as it's somewhat an educated guess. One thing is for sure, I don't believe "TX" is relevant as a trademark in being so old.
If we look back a few years ago, when Toyota trademarked "LX450d" and a trusted enthusiast in UZJ100GXR, it became a bit obvious that major facelift was coming to the LX in the second half of 2015. He turned out to be right.
Akio Toyoda is instrumental in the fact that the LX was introduced to Japan last year and many of the Nagoya product planners knew very well in 2012, that they could not domestically introduce a premium Lexus product that was not differentiated enough from the Toyota cousin and didn't want to wait until 2018-19 to do it.
I am expecting either a major update (a la MY2013 LS and MY2016 LX) to the GX during CY2018 that doubly eclipses the amount changes implemented with Spindle Grille facelift in late 2013 or uni-body redesign that maiaradan has hinted at based on the GA-L.
I am imagining that the redesigned Prado (180) could be introduced to North America under the 4Runner nameplate in 2018, for platform consolidation and the LX redesigned in CY2019. There's a really no need for a differing 4Runner design, when both the global Prado and 4Runner can be aligned into one vehicle, since both are already built in Japan. It is unlike that of the Hilux and Tacoma, which are built differently. Separating the Tacoma and 4Runner in the late 2000s did not help matters, which is why I vote for replacing the 4Runner with the 180-Series body.
Simply put, there is no way Akio Toyoda would approve the marketing and selling of the current URJ150 GX460 (nor a GRJ150 GX400) in Japan, as it currently is. It may be why the ES isn't even sold there (and much of the world) and why they waited until 2015, to offer the LX.
GX is basically a luxury 4Runner, so why not? It will be more appealing with the lower pricing.
I disagree, it is not exactly a "luxury 4Runner. They don't even sell the 4runner in Japan and the Hilux Surf was discontinued with the previous generation. It is a Lexus-badged Prado, with more luxury content, V8, and slightly better engineering.
There is a pattern (used primarily by Toyota/Lexus detractors) to align every Lexus to being a direct rebadge of a parallel Toyota counterpart, when that isn't always the case. Sharing
some components doesn't equate to a "rebadge". A true rebadge is that of the 1996 LX450 or the 1998 Toyota Harrier and 1RX.
I only state this in relation to the UX now being called a rebadged C-HR, when that hasn't proven yet to be 100% correct. Using the same TNGA modular architecture doesn't entail that. The AZ10 NX uses only 10% of the RAV-4, yet many call it a RAV-4 rebadge.
It reminds me of how many people called the Infiniti FX35 a rebadged Nissan Murano in the early-mid 2000's, which was more inaccurate than even the NX/RAV-4 and UX/C-HR relations.